Men's Football Blog

Linebacker Kyle Van Noy was given two more All-America honors this week. The senior was named CBSSports.com Third Team and an honorable mention by SI.com. Uani 'Unga, another senior linebacker, also received honorable mention honors by SI.com.

Earlier this week, Van Noy was named the Independent Defensive Player of the Year by SB Nation.

To date, Van Noy has been named to three All-America teams (Walter Camp, Athlon Sports and CBSSports.com) and received one honorable mention.

Taysom Hill was named Independent Offensive Player of the Year and Kyle Van Noy was named Independent Defensive Player of the Year by College Sports Madness. The two were among eight Cougars named to the All-Independent First Team.

BYU defensive coordinator and secondary coach Nick Howell is one of 40 nominees for the 2013 Broyles Award, which honors the top assistant coach in college football. The list of nominees was announced Wednesday by The Rotary Club of Little Rock.

After three years on the full-time staff, Howell was promoted in 2013 to serve as defensive coordinator. As such, Howell took on the task of preparing the BYU defense to adjust to playing in essence an extra quarter of football per game in 2013 because of BYU's new up-tempo offense. Only six teams in the nation have had to defend more plays than BYU this year and of those that have had to defend as many plays only Oregon and Oklahoma State allow fewer yards per game. BYU has played 878 plays on defense in 11 games to date. BYU ranks No. 16 nationally in both points per play allowed (0.277) and yards per play allowed (4.83) despite the extra demands of the high number of plays to defend.

Howell was the special teams coordinator the past two seasons while also coaching the Cougar secondary, where he has served since switching from outside linebackers during the 2010 season. In his seventh season in Provo and 12th year of coaching, Howell started at BYU as a defensive intern (2007) and graduate assistant (2008-09) after working in Utah’s high school coaching ranks. Prior to BYU, he was the head coach at Ben Lomond High School (2004-06), defensive coordinator at Weber High School (2003) and defensive line coach at Sky View High School (2002).

The 2013 Broyles Award winner will be announced on Tuesday, Dec. 10 at 11:30 a.m. at the Marriott Hotel in Little Rock, Ark. The Rotary Club of Little Rock presents the Broyles Award. The winner of the 2012 Broyles Award was Bob Diaco, Notre Dame.

The Broyles Award honors the top assistant college football coach in America and was established in 1996 to honor legendary Arkansas Head Coach Frank Broyles. Coach Broyles had a track record of producing some of the most successful assistant coaches in college football history.

The Broyles Award is a member of the National College Football Awards Association (NCFAA), which encompasses the most prestigious awards in college football. The 21 awards boast 678 years of tradition-selection excellence. Visit www.NCFAA.org to learn more about our story.

For more information, visit www.BroylesAward.com or search for Broyles Award on Facebook and Twitter.

A complete list of nominees for the 2013 Broyles Award is included below.

The Cougar defense held the Bengals to a 36-yard field goal for the fourth quarter's only score.

Freshman running back Algernon Brown rushed for 17 yards, bringing his game total to 61.

On special teams, junior punter Scott Arellano had a 67-yard punt and a 38-yard punt to pin Idaho State at its own 2-yard line.

The defensive reserves saw time on the field. Sophomore Logan Taele and freshman Michael Doman each registered sacks. Freshman Kai Nacua also had two pass breakups and five tackles, including a tackle for loss.

BYU scored 10 points in the quarter to lead ISU, 59-10, at the end of the third quarter.

Sophomore running back Adam Hine highlighted the Cougar offense in the third quarter, becoming the second BYU running back to eclipse the 100-yard mark in the game. On the first play of the quarter for the offense, Hine had the crowd excited when he took the handoff for a 64-yard touchdown run.

Hine became the game's leading rusher on a 24-yard run down to the ISU 7 yard line. The drive ended in the first field goal of the day for BYU. Senior kicker Justin Sorensen converted on the 36-yard attempt, bringing his point total for the game to 11.

Senior wide receiver Skyler Ridley and sophomore Jamaal Williams led the way as five different players found the end zone in the second quarter.

The quarter began with two completions to Ridley for 12 yards and then another for 36 yards and the touchdown. It was his second touchdown reception of the season. He led the Cougars in the half with 86 receiving yards on four receptions.

Williams scored his third touchdown of the game on a 15-yard run, tying his career high for rushing touchdowns in a game.

On the defensive side, Bronson Kaufusi intercepted the Bengals at their own 12-yard line and returned it for the touchdown. Later in the quarter, senior Eathyn Manumaleuna was credited with a blocked field goal.

For the half, quarterback Taysom Hill led the BYU offense, throwing 11 of 19 for 153 yards and two touchdowns. He completed passes to seven different receivers. Hill also added 62 rushing yards in the half.

In the last home game of the season the Cougars scored the first points of the game and lead 14-3.

Sophomore Jamaal Williams highlighted the first quarter with two touchdown runs, including a career-high 70-yard scramble. Cody Hoffman returned his first career punt for 23 yards.

After Adam Hine's 40-yard kickoff return to start the game, BYU marched down the field with Taysom Hill completing 4 of 5 for 38 yards. Hoffman caught two passes for 27 yards and Williams carried the ball for 16 yards and the touchdown. The drive was 12 plays for 60 yards.

After the Bengals scored their first points on a 31-yard field goal, the Cougars responded quickly when Williams took the handoff and broke a 70-yard run for his second touchdown of the quarter.

BYU head coach Bronco Mendenhall is looking for his 81st win at the helm of the Cougars as he leads his team into Camp Randall Stadium today to face No. 21 Wisconsin.

This will be Mendenhall’s 112th game overseeing the BYU program. Now in his ninth season, he has won over 72 percent of BYU’s games under his leadership while achieving an 80-31 record.

Interestingly, Mendenhall matched legendary Cougar coach LaVell Edwards by winning his 80th contest in his 111th game. Coach Edwards also won his 80th game in his 111th outing during his 10th season to boast a nearly identical 80-30-1 record at that point of his career.

There are several other similarities when looking back at the first 111 games of BYU’s two most successful coaches.

Edwards’ teams boasted four winning streaks of at least six games (17, 11, 7, 6). Mendenhall’s teams have also had four such streaks (16, 11, 6, 6) and could add to that total if able to improve upon the current five game-streak entering today’s game at Wisconsin.

The longest losing streak for Edwards was four games, something his teams endured twice. Mendenhall, likewise, has suffered no more than four losses at a time, with one such skid back in 2010.

The opponents BYU played have changed a bit from the beginning of the Edwards era to the program’s current status of football independence.

Edwards’ teams faced teams that currently hail from an automatic-qualifying BCS conference 16 times, earning an 8-8 record with wins over Kansas State (2), Oregon State (2), Oregon, Texas A&M, Wisconsin and SMU. Mendenhall’s teams have faced teams from BCS leagues 31 times, achieving a 15-16 record with wins over UCLA (2), Washington (2), Oregon State (2), Georgia Tech (2), Oregon, Oklahoma, Texas, Ole Miss, Arizona, Washington State and Houston. Overall, BYU has played 17 different programs from an automatic-qualifying BCS league in those 31 games while Edwards’ teams played nine programs over the 16 games.

When it comes to postseason, Edwards’ teams went to five bowls over that 111-game span with a 1-4 record while beginning what would become a great BYU bowl legacy. Mendenhall has built upon the legacy by taking the Cougars to a bowl each year while winning a program-record four straight bowls to boast a 6-2 postseason record.